■ 

IPS 3515 
E77 C3 
1915 
Copy 1 



Can3ona Hmorosa 

By Harold Heksey. 



1915 
Privately Printed 






100 Copies Printed and 
Type Distributed. 



CANZONA AMOROSA 
Autumn. 

i- 

I had one glimpse of Autumn's eyes, 

One glimpse and that was all, 

Just chance to look with swift surprise 

And hear her tender call. 

I loitered near her heart a day, 

A day I loitered near, 

But then she laughed and turned away 

And left the lonely year. 

And ah! I heard her tender breath 

Draw fast and then draw faster, 

Her limbs and lips grew cold as death 

And Winter was our master. 

Winter. 

2. 

Many days have passed since we met, 

Many more shall pass ere I forget, 

Many hours of unrest have now gone 

And my heart is yet silent of song. 

3. 

Earth! Air! Water 1 Fire! 

Come back into my soul again, 

Come back, come back, ere my desire 

Flees and I return to men. 

I linger near the fresh green earth, 

I linger near, I linger near, 

And listen to the sounds of mirth 

And wonder why I've but a tear. 

I roam within the country air, 

I wander o'er the templed hills, 

And ponder why the fields aren't fair 

And why my heart no longer thrills. 

I've baked beneath the sun's hot fire, 

And roamed beneath the woodland shade, 

I've searched to find my heart's desire 

And only found the grave it made. 



CANZONA AMOROSA 



The flowers that were rich and rare, 

That sprung" up from the land. 

Frail flowers that I found so fair, 

Now wither in my hand; 

The woods I found so cool and still. 

The grass so soft and green, 

The splendor of the haunted hill, 

The stillness all serene; 

The soothing music of the stream, 

The voices of the birds, 

Have vanished in a mystic dream 

To memories of words. 

5. 

The earth is shedding all its summer bloom, 

The skies are clearer and the fields grow bare, 

Winter's here and every flower's doom 

Is now foretold by sharpness of the air. 

The winter winds they sigh, they sigh, 
The winter winds are crisper, 
The breezes raise a lonely cry 
And in the branches whisper. 

The clouds race faster through the heaven's blue, 
Their journey's are less gay and less serene, 
The meadows merge into the strangest hue, 
A mixture of deep brown and lightest green. 

One hears the bird's swift fleeing overhead, 

The farewell call and rush of flapping wings; 

I've hoped in vain . . . Summer and Autumn are dead . . 

"They're dead, they're dead," each flower and leaflet sings. 

The winter winds they sigh, they sigh — 
The winter winds are crisper; 
The breezes raise a lonely cry 
And in the branches whisper. 



CANZONA AMOROSA 

6. 

I have waited and watched in wonder, 

I've run and I've romped in the rain, 

I have laughed with the mighty thunder .... 

But ah, shall I smile again? 

I have heard the raindrops falling 
And beat at the window pane, 
I have answered the Summer's calling 
But ah, shall I smile again? 

7. 

From my small window I can see 

The skeleton of every tree 

Now bleak and cold against the sky; 

They quiver as the winds blow by. 

How lorn all looks! How sad appear 

The closing months of every year! 

I hear the sleigh bells through the night 

And winter birds in hurried flight. 

I huddle near the blazing fire 

And try to quench my heart's desire 

For Summer's happy carefree tale; 

Instead I hear the Winter's wail. 



8. 



SPRING. 



CANZONA AMOROSA I 



She Is Mine. 



9. 

Shall I tell how I found my lost love in the hills? 

How we met where the rain glistened bright on the trees? 

Now my feet do not go as my fancy so wills 

Nor my mind change as fast as the breath of the breeze. 

No, I'll tell of the stream, of the woods, of the days, 
How they look to a lover once loved by a maid 
Who came back with her laugh and her tender, sweet ways, 
And who met her beloved in the smile of the shade. 

10. 

j 

The woods that once appeared so dark and drear I 

Now seem a maze of every tinge of green; 
The blackness that I once turned from in fear 
Now seems a bower filled with calm serene. 

The mountains towering against the sky 

Smile on my fleeting sadness and the stream 

That once to me voiced but an endless sigh 

Now sings a song, the knell of my dead dream. I 

The winding road invites me, fields await, 

The birds brush by my shoulder with their song . . . 

And I . . . . why I laugh back at bitter fate 

And marvel at so strange a thing as wrong! 



CANZONA AMOROSA 
11. 

I laugh and the wild woods wonder, 
I call and the mountains thunder 
"We are one, we are one, we are one." 

12. 

The fresh young buds now blossom free, 
The buds I bring to her, 
Soft buds that seem to say to me, 
"See how we cling to her." 

The birds that chirp among the trees 
All seem to wing to her, 
And every breath of springtime breeze 
Doth only softly sing to her. 

13. 

Summer 

(and ever after). 

I took the heart that panted to be mine 

And looked in eyes that mirrored past unrest, 

And with a kiss made all our love divine, 

Then hand in hand we sank into the west. 



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